The Honorable Thing To Do
by Phoenix Aurorean
Summary: She left him in chains. Killian Jones is not a man who forgets something like that. But when both he and danger find her...what is he to do?
1. Chapter 1: Taking A Blade For Her

**Be forewarned: I'm with Captain Swan. This is something I could just not get out of my head, so I took a quick break from NaNo to jot it down. I may or may not continue it...depending on how _Into the Deep _goes.**

**Please, please, _please_ review! I love it all: good, bad and ugly :)**

****"_Cora_," Snow spat.

A soft woman's laugh rang through the clearing, and the devil herself appeared in front of them.

"Perceptive as always, Snow," she said, with her falsely-sweet smile.

Killian drew his sword and stepped out from behind the tree, pointing its sharp, gleaming tip in their direction.

Mulan and Snow put their hands on their sword-hilts and Aurora and Emma reached for their daggers. In answer, Cora waved a hand and dozens of glowing purple weapons appeared in midair, poised at the four maid warriors.

"Hook, dear," said Cora. "Kindly relieve these girls of their weapons."

"As you wish."

He stepped over to Mulan and Snow, thrust his own blade into the ground beside him, drew Mulan's blade from her belt, turned and flung it away. It spun, glittering in the moonlight, and buried itself in the trunk of a tree where it stuck, quivering. He likewise disposed of Snow and Aurora's weapons, and when he came to Emma he gave her a dark smile with no mirth in it.

"Fortune is a cruel mistress, isn't she, love?"

He stated it, he didn't ask it. Coldly. Each word dripping with acid.

Emma set her jaw, and there was something accusing in her eyes, something that said he had just confirmed her opinion of him. But he didn't care. He took her dagger from her hand, threw it away into its own tree-trunk, withdrew his own sword from the earth and returned to stand at Cora's side.

"The compass, please, Emma dear," said Cora.

She raised her chin defiantly. "I don't have it anymore. And even if I did, I wouldn't give it to you."

Cora twitched a finger, and the dozens of hovering, glowing purple weapons pointed themselves at each of the women in turn. "Who has it, then?"

"None of us," said Emma. "We lost it. Unfortunately."

_She's bluffing. The foolish girl is _bluffing_ Cora._

Some of floating weapons clattered against each other as Cora's hand shook. "_Where?_'"

Emma cocked her head to the side, clearly mocking Cora as she pretended to think. "Not exactly sure where."

"Emma…" Snow said, quietly, warningly.

Cora's eyes were daggers as she glared at Emma. "Something tells me you're not being truthful, Emma." She stopped, and her expression changed. "Very well. I shall search for it elsewhere. We shall not meet again, my dears."

She drew back her hand, as if she were preparing to hurl a weapon, and Killian knew what was going to happen next.

"Cora, stop!"

She paused and looked at him, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Is something wrong, Hook?"

"It appears to me that negotiations with these four lovelies might be smoother without—" he glanced up at Cora's glowing magical weapons— "Swords hanging over our heads."

Mulan glared fiercely at Cora, and Aurora had drawn herself up stiffly and haughtily. It was clear that none of them were going to negotiate to Cora's satisfaction.

She spared him the smallest of patronizing smiles. "You heard them. They lost the compass and they don't know where. They are no longer of any use to me."

"Wait!"

He withdrew the small brown pouch from beneath the flowing folds of his long black captain's coat.

Cora's eyes widened in anger and surprise, and her hand went to her own belt. "How _dare_ you—"

"_Pirate_," he said, as if reminding a child of something she should have already known. "Put away the weapons, Cora. I am certain these princesses might be more cooperative if we are not quite so…_blatant_ in our measures."

Cora looked like a cat preparing to pounce. "And if I do not agree with you, Hook?"

He tightened his grip around the bottle inside the pouch. "Then I break the bottle and you lose its contents forever."

The intensity in the clearing could have been cut with a knife. Something glinted in Cora's eye, and all the hovering weapons slowly shifted, clattering against each other as they sighted in on a new target: Emma.

A dark smile twitched the corners of Cora's lips. "It seems to me that only one of these princesses holds any true interest for you. So I make the choice clear."

All the glowing weapons jerked an inch closer to Emma, and Killian's heart missed a beat.

"Give me the ashes, and I will not harm Emma."

He gave her a small, ironic smile. "Cora…I don't have to possess a special gift to tell that you are lying."

The next moment all the tension in the clearing exploded. Mulan broke away for the tree that held her weapon. All Cora's glowing purple weapons shot toward Emma.

Instinct, rather than conscious thought moved Killian in that instant. Both he and Snow dove for Emma, but he reached her first. The pouch fell from his hand as he desperately tried to tackle her out of the path of danger. He felt sharp searing pain pierce his right shoulder from behind, all the way through to his chest, and he and Emma crashed to the ground together.

Mulan's shout came to his ears as if through cotton. "_Cora!_"

The clearing lit up almost as bright as day for a single split second, and then everything went dark.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, Hook," said Emma through gritted teeth. "D'you mind getting _off_ me?"

He pushed himself away from her, and promptly collapsed back to the grass, groaning as the pain flared in his chest. It felt like he had been stabbed through with a sword or a dagger. His fingers went to the spot and came away dripping red. Colors swam and blurred before his eyes.

_God, Jones! What were you thinking? The woman betrayed you at the top of that beanstalk! She turned on you and left you up there—maybe not to die, but…and you take a sword to the bloody _chest_ for her! Are you _mad_?_

"Emma!" came Snow's voice. "Emma, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but—Hook?"

Someone knelt by his side, and the moonlight glinted off golden hair.

"Hook, you're hurt—there's blood on your hand! Where's the blood coming from?"

Killian's drunken vision cleared enough to see Snow kneel by her daughter on his right. "Mulan! Hook's wounded!"

Emma produced something from her pocket, and he saw that it was the scarf he had bandaged her hand with. She pressed it to his wound, and he gasped as the pain stabbed through it again.

Mulan's voice sounded at his other side. "What ails him?"

"Cora got him," said Emma, and there was a tremor in her voice. "He knocked me out of the way."

"He's losing a lot of blood, Mulan," said Snow. "What have we got?"

Aurora's voice came from somewhere above and to his left. "Cora's gone! She took the ashes with her!"

"No, she didn't," Killian gasped. His fingers were shaking badly, and it didn't help that they were slick with his own blood, but he managed to untie the pouch from his belt and held it out to Emma.

"What—" Mulan started.

"How…" Snow demanded.

"Cora has a fake," he said. Something tickled somewhere in his lungs, and a coughing fit seized him. The pain burned even more brightly as it faded, and he clenched his teeth against it, breathing hard.

Emma held the pouch in one hand, staring at it. "How did you manage that?"

"_Pirate_," he rasped. "Congratulations, darling. You get to go see your son."

"Emma," said Mulan. "Move your hand."

The pressure lifted from his wound; he felt hands opening his coat and leather vest, and there was the sound of ripping fabric as Mulan tore the hole in his shirt wider. He felt something splashing onto his chest, and he cried out as intense pain burned through his wound.

"Waste of good dwarf wine, if you ask me," Mulan said dryly.

"_Mulan_," Snow chided. "Hook just saved my daughter's life. If nothing else he has earned our respect."

Gentle hands pressed the wadded-up scarf to his wound, and Emma's face was unreadable as she closed his leather vest over it.

"I don't think we should make camp here," said Mulan.

"I agree," said Aurora. "There's a chance Cora will come back once she realizes Hook tricked her, right?"

"Yes," Snow said. "Hook, do you think you'll be able to walk?"

"It'll hurt like the bloody devil, milady, but thankfully Cora spared me my legs."

To his surprise, Emma spoke up. "I'll help him."

"Here," Mulan said. She handed her a small object. "Have him take this. It won't help the pain, but it will help the flesh to knit faster."

With Emma and Snow's help, Killian got to his feet, and Emma drew his left arm around her own shoulders.

"Let's move," said Snow.

They headed east out of the clearing, sea-ward; Snow and Mulan leading, the former with an arrow nocked to her bow, Aurora next, and Emma and Killian bringing up the rear. Emma wasn't trying to rush him; instead she let him set the pace, matching him step for step.

"Here," she said, placing something in his hand. "Mulan said to take it."

It felt like a piece of tree-bark, but Killian put it in his mouth anyway and chewed.

"Ugh—God, I hate elf-ash root."

"That sounds like the voice of experience."

He swallowed and coughed as it went down. "Let's say it's something I've tasted one too many times. I honestly didn't expect you to be the one to volunteer to help me, love."

"I owe you one."

He laughed, and there was a little mirth in it this time. "_One?_ I daresay you owe me at least _two_, darling."

"Right." She sounded awkward. "Two."

_Hmm. She didn't argue that one_.

They walked on in silence. Killian tried to ignore the burning knife in his chest and focus on putting one foot in front of the other, instead.

"Why'd you do it?" Emma said suddenly.

He knew what she was talking about. "Well, I could not care less what Cora wants to do with her daughter, but there's something in my personal code that balks at the idea of involving that little boy you say is both _your_ son and her daughter's."

Emma clearly wasn't going to be swayed from her point. "I left you up there, Hook. What little I know of your character tells me that it's not something you would forget. So what did your personal code tell you back there in the clearing?"

He was silent for a moment. "That it was the honorable thing to do."


	2. Chapter 2: A Turn For The Worse

**Okay, guys. I'm back with a second chapter. I decided I just couldn't wait for **_**Into the Deep**_** :) I give you fair warning, however: storyline action will be at a minimum, as my writer's brain refuses to get Emma, Snow and Killian to Storybrooke without knowing the REAL details first. But this installment is far from boring, I promise…there will be plenty going on. And as a special treat, I switch from Killian's point of view to Emma's.**

**P.S. All the love you guys are giving this story gives me so much warm fuzzies it makes me want to cry…and it makes me proud to call myself a Captain Swan shipmate.**

**Disclaimer: (Sorry, forgot to add this in Chapter One.) I own neither Emma, Killian, or the world(s) created by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Also, the snippets of **_**Peter Pan and Wendy**_** included here are based upon what I remember from the book…they are most likely not accurate, as I don't own the book and it's been ages since it's been in my hands!**

**And so, without further ado, here is Chapter Two.**

Emma didn't complain when Killian fell silent and they continued walking without much conversation.

_The honorable thing, huh? He's not lying, there. But he's not telling the whole truth. Captain Hook growing a conscience…since when?_

Something stirred in her memory. Snippets and flashes of an old, well-worn copy of _Peter Pan and Wendy_ that had found its way into her hands in her pre-teen years. _"…he was a man obsessed with form…James Hook had been, in fact, educated at Eaton College, where he became enamoured of the code of the gentleman…a smile graced the captain's face, even as he fell to the waiting crocodile. "This proves all, Peter!" he cried. "That in the end, you betray good form for a bad one!"_

_And even the pirates in those Disney Caribbean movies had A Code_, she thought. She gave her head a little shake to clear it. _Where'd your head go to, Emma? Where did all that come from?_

She sent an annoyed look in Killian's direction, but he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were focused on the path ahead, and judging by the way his jaw was set, he was still in considerable pain.

_Damn pirate's getting to me._

Within a few minutes of walking, they reached a place where a small, bubbling stream ran across the path. Off a little ways to the side stood a huge tree with an enormous, hollowed-out base, its giant roots sprawling out in all directions. It looked as if it could accommodate a party of weary travelers quite comfortably.

Snow cast a glance up into the sky. "The evening star's high. We should rest for a few hours."

"I agree," said Mulan. She pointed at the hollowed-out tree. "We may make camp here. The tree should provide enough shelter for at least some of us. I shall take first watch."

"Nonsense," said Snow firmly. "Mulan, you have been doing more than your fair share this venture. Don't think I haven't noticed. _I _ shall take the first watch, and if you wish, I shall wake you for the second."

Mulan nodded. "Very well. I thank you, Your Highness."

Snow smiled and nodded, checking the string of her bow and taking her seat on a large rock that sat in front and to the side of the tree.

Aurora and Mulan headed inside the tree and began to make themselves comfortable on the dry leaves that littered the ground. Emma began to follow, helping Killian with her, but he suddenly pulled up short.

"If you don't mind, Emma, I think I'll sleep outside the tree. It looks to be too small to house four."

Emma gave him a look that was half-annoyed and half "don't be silly". "Hook, you're hurt, and are you _kidding_—there's plenty of room!"

He shook his head stubbornly and began to pull his left arm out of its place around her shoulders, lowering himself to the ground, and promptly uttered a muffled cry and clutched his wound. Emma caught his hook as it left her shoulders in one hand and seized his arm with her other.

"Hook, this is _stupid!_ Get in the—tree!"

_This COULD NOT get any more bizarre_.

Killian firmly wrenched both his hook and his arm out of her hands, and proceeded to stretch himself out on the ground, his face twisting a little with pain. "I'm not moving, darling," he said, that infuriating smile of his actually managing to make an appearance through the pain. "And I'd abide by my wishes, if I were you. As you've so accurately put it, I've been hurt, and you run the risk of causing me further harm if you try to drag me to the tree by force."

Emma took a deep breath to try and stem the tide of her rising blood pressure. "Fine. _Fine_. I tried. Don't blame me if it rains and you catch a cold."

She turned in a huff and ducked inside the tree, kicking up more leaves than was probably necessary as she tossed this way and that, trying to find a comfortable spot.

"Damn _pirate_," she growled.

Mulan opened an eye. "Did you say something, Emma?"

"No. Sorry if I woke you."

* * *

When Emma woke, Aurora was leaving the tree hollow as golden, early morning light filled the forest. A good-sized fire was crackling and burning merrily a little ways from the tree, and the smell of something delicious cooking filled Emma's nose.

"Good morning, everyone," she yawned, stretching as she left the hollow.

"Good morning," said Aurora.

"Sleep well?" said Snow.

Emma nodded. "What's that I smell?"

From over the fire, Mulan lifted a long stick holding what looked like five tiny, shish-kabobbed chickens from its place across two "Y" shaped sticks.

"Turkey," said Mulan. "Young ones. Snow had the good fortune to come across them early this morning."

"Wow…tiny things. Good shooting."

Snow acknowledged Emma's praise with a nod and a smile, thrusting five small sticks into the fire and promptly pulling them back out again. Between them, she and Mulan got each of the small birds onto each of the small sticks, and started passing them around. After giving one to Emma, Snow went over to Killian, who was now sitting against the large rock where she had kept watch during the night, bent down and handed another of the baby turkeys to him.

"Here you go, Hook," she said with a kind smile.

"Thank you, milady," he said, accepting it from her.

Breakfast was a messy affair for Emma. Bones, bones, bones. For each mouthful there seemed to be at least half a dozen bones, and by the time she got through half of it she had almost swallowed three. She still had a lot left by the time everyone finished, and she threw the rest of hers into the fire in disgust, going over to the stream to clean her hands.

"Ruddy _waste_, love," Killian protested from behind her.

She rolled her eyes. "Not the way I see it. I'm not eating anything that threatens to choke me at every bite."

"We should get going," said Snow.

Everyone started gathering up their things, and Emma put Killian's left arm around her shoulders again as she helped him up.

Walking along the forest path by day was a whole different affair. Emma was constantly amazed by the vividness of color in her mother's world. The leaves seemed a brighter emerald, and the rainbow of colors in the flowers and animal life were more jewel-like hues.

_Maybe the whole freaking place is sprinkled with fairy dust._

Killian seemed to be in just as much pain today as he was yesterday.

"Hook? Do you need to stop for a bit?"

"No," he gasped through gritted teeth.

"Did anyone check your wound this morning? Maybe I should—"

"It's fine, Emma. The warrior maid Mulan inspected it and pronounced me able to travel."

Emma didn't press him. If he didn't want to talk, fine.

"Tell me about your son," he said suddenly.

She blinked. "Sorry?"

"Your son, back in Storybrooke. How is he also Regina's son?"

_Is he _really_ asking me this? Why is he curious all of a sudden? Well, if nothing else it might distract him for a while…_

"His name is Henry. I had him when I was really young, and when I gave him up for adoption, Regina was the one who adopted him."

Geez. She thought it would be easy to talk about it, but actually _saying_ it…suddenly the emotions were very close and very real again.

"Regina raised him," she said, feeling a tremor in her voice, accompanied by a sting in her eyes. "In Storybrooke, for ten years. On my twenty-eighth birthday, Henry came and found me, brought me back with him to Storybrooke."

She paused for a minute as a lump grew in her throat. "Henry is…he's a really bright kid. Smart. Really, _really_ brave. The curse made everyone forget who they really were, and once he figured it out, he never stopped believing. He never stopped trying to help me believe, too. He—"

Killian suddenly stopped short. Emma's stomach did a little uneasy flip-flop as she saw that he had gone very, very pale.

"Hook?"

Without warning he fell to his knees, pitched forward onto his good right hand, and retched violently on the forest floor.

"Mary-Margaret!" Emma shouted, kneeling beside him.

And then she saw the small pool of blood on the forest path.

Killian collapsed onto his side with a shuddering groan and rolled onto his back as the others came running.

"Emma! What's wrong?" Snow demanded.

She looked up at her. "Must have been some really bad chicken. Hook's coughing up blood."

"It's not the fowl," Mulan said, kneeling on Killian's other side and wrenching open his long coat and then the leather vest. "Did _no one_ examine his wound this morning?"

"He said _you_ did!" Emma said.

Mulan cursed. "He told me Snow already had." She lifted the wadded-up, blood-soaked scarf from the wound, and her expression became gravely serious. "The wound is poisoned."

"_What?_"

"Look."

The bleeding had slowed considerably, no doubt thanks to the elf-ash root he had taken the previous night; it was no longer gushing, but the edges of the wound were an eerie, sickly green.

**I know, guys! It's an evil cliffie, I'm sorry! But the story's not over yet. I would never willingly kill Killian, and if I were writing **_**Once**_** I would grant him and Emma and Snow and Charming and Henry eternal life…but I don't write **_**Once**_** X(**

**I'll update soon, I promise!**

**Review, review, review!**

**~Elizabeth**


	3. Chapter 3: Racing and Hoping

**Okay, guys. This is the last chapter I intend to release before Sunday.**

**On the upside, it's my longest to date! :D**

**Lots of hugs for all of you who favorite, followed, and reviewed. Thank you so much! I love you all!**

**For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a "league" is an old-fashioned term that generally amounts to three miles. So when Aurora says "less than a quarter-league", I meant her to indicate half-a-mile or less. Since a "quarter-league" amounts to about 0.75 miles or ¾ of a mile, I figured it was the closest I could get :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Emma, Snow, Killian and Co., or Storybrooke, the Enchanted Forest or any of the other realms created by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. If I did…Captain Swan would be canon **_**and**_** endgame. Pooh. Winnie-the-Pooh.**

* * *

"Cora's magic," Mulan spat. "I should have foreseen something like this!"

Emma looked up from Killian to her. "Her magic's poisoned him?"

Mulan nodded tersely.

"The weapon she conjured up," said Snow. "The one she struck him down with."

"How bad is it?" said Emma, looking from Snow to Mulan and back again.

The two of them exchanged a look.

"It's bad," said Snow.

"_How bad?_"

Snow closed her eyes for a moment. "Without a cure he won't live to see tomorrow morning."

"All right, then, so where's the cure?"

Aurora was staring at Killian in horror. "He'll die…there's only one!"

"Correction," said Mulan. "There are _two_, Aurora. Both are equally rare, but there is a chance one of them is within our reach. There is a plant, called seafire, which grows near the sea and is said to be blessed by the fairies. It's strong enough to cure any poison, even magical poison. However, as I said, it is rare, and it grows only sparsely. I will go on ahead and attempt to find it, but in the meantime the four of you must keep on the move if we are to have any hope of saving his life." She passed the strap of her leather traveling bag over her head and held it out to Snow. "Keep this. It contains items that may be of use to you."

Snow slung the bag around her own shoulders, and gripped forearms with her. "Good speed, and good luck."

Mulan inclined her head to her, and continued further up the forest road almost at a run. Within seconds she was out of sight.

Killian's eyes were almost closed, and Emma slapped at his cheek gently to get him to open them again. "Hook—Hook!"

He jerked slightly and his eyes snapped open.

"Stay with me, now. D'you think you'll be able to get going again?"

He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Yes…yes, I believe so. Just…felt a little off for a bit there, love."

"A little _off?_ You freaking puked your guts out, _literally_."

He furrowed his brow up at her. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean…but if you intend to say that coughing up my own blood is a bad sign…I might be inclined to agree with you."

Emma gripped his hand—well, hook, and his left arm, and with Snow helping on the other side they got Killian back up again. This time Emma secured her grip more firmly across his back and around his waist.

"I sure hope that magic plant isn't too far away," she said.

Snow nodded. "Let's get going then."

As they went along, Emma fell into step beside Snow.

"So," she said quietly, trying to project her voice toward Snow and away from Killian, "What was the other cure?"

Snow smiled half-sadly and half-wryly. "True love's kiss."

_Should've seen that one coming_.

"Of course."

* * *

Killian had only experienced a similar sensation once. The _**Jolly Roger**_ had sailed straight into a thick fog in broad daylight, so thick that it turned everything into a murky grey that was almost black. Sounds outside the confines of the _**Roger**_ had been silenced. He had been forced to order the sails up, and he had relied solely on the ship's slowest rowing speed, until they were out of the sodding thing.

It was almost the same now. Almost. His hearing faded in and out of clarity, as if someone were taking cotton out of his ears, and then after a while stuffing it back in again. A haze clung to the edges of his vision, and everything seemed darker, greyer. The metaphorical knife of pain in his chest burned with every step and every breath he took. Constant. Relentless. Merciless. And on occasion the metaphorical knife twisted so sharply that he almost uttered an audible cry of pain.

God, he longed to let himself fall from Emma's grasp and lie still on the ground until the agony passed. But her highness Snow was right. He would die if a cure was not found before the day was out. And Killian would be damned if he let himself lie down and die when he was _so close_ to reaching his Crocodile. So he forced himself to take one more step. And then another.

His mind began to wander after a while, perhaps trying to distract itself from the pain.

_Why did I save her? She left me up there to bloody rot—well, for ten hours. But betrayal's betrayal. Why did I save her? She's damned arrogant about that damned talent of hers that allows her to see right through a lie. She trusts _no one_, she's made _that_ crystal clear. She's convinced that she can take on the whole sodding world by herself. Why in the bloody name of Triton did I save her?_

* * *

Killian was losing steam. Emma knew it. He was as pale as snow—no pun intended, and the weight of his left arm around her shoulders was growing heavier by the hour. By the time the sun had reached the noontime point in the sky, he seemed to be struggling to put one foot in front of the other.

All at once, his eyes rolled upward in his head and his knees buckled as he went limp in Emma's grasp. He almost pulled her down with him as he crumpled to the ground, shivering and shaking as if in the grip of a terrible fever.

"Mary Margaret!"

Both Snow and Aurora came running, and Emma clenched Killian's hand in one of hers as she supported the side of his face with the other.

"Come on, Hook…stay with me!"

She'd be damned if she let him die on her watch…not when she owed him. Twice.

"What happened?" said Snow, dropping to her knees beside Emma.

"He's been getting worse, and just now he collapsed." Emma gently felt his forehead. "He's burning up, too."

Aurora looked both distressed and terrified. "What do we do?"

Setting Mulan's leather satchel on the ground, Snow started rummaging through it, pulling all sorts of odds and ends out and laying them carefully out on the ground. A sheathed hunting knife, a tinderbox, and several little cloth pouches each of which she took a cautious sniff. As she neared the bottom of the bag she gave a cry.

"What is it?" said Aurora.

Snow drew out of the bag what looked like a large rose thorn as long as a pencil, and she cradled it in both hands as if it were the most precious thing in the world. "Luck is on our side—the fairies bless Mulan for the foresight that prompted her to carry _this!_"

"What _is_ it?" Emma said.

"The thorn of a midnight rose. Its sap carries the ability to reinvigorate the body, if only for a short time." Looking at Emma, she said, "It acts like a shot of adrenaline."

"Then what the hell are we waiting for? Use it!"

"Water, Aurora, please."

Aurora pulled the strap of the large water flask over her head and passed it over. Unfastening the stopper, Snow carefully poised the large flask over the thorn and allowed a single drop of water to fall on the flat part of the thorn's head—like a nail's head. The droplet seeped into it almost immediately, and the thorn began to glow a faint blue.

"Open his shirt," Snow commanded. At Emma's wary glance, she said, "An _adrenaline_ shot, Emma. I need a clear pathway to his heart."

Emma nodded. She opened the long coat, unbuttoned the leather vest, and drew the long dagger from the leg of her boot. With one swift stroke she slit the black shirt down the middle and parted it to expose the way to the heart.

Snow took a deep breath, shifted her grip slightly, and then plunged the thorn straight down into Killian's chest. He uttered just the softest sound, like all the breath being driven from his lungs, and his eyes snapped open—blue and clear, for the first time since his stabbing.

He practically shot up off the ground into a sitting position, chest heaving as he gasped for breath, his hand going to the huge thorn in his chest.

"What the…_bloody buggering_…_hell_—?"

"Sorry, Hook," said Snow. "You were just about gone." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Brace yourself—this will probably hurt."

She took hold of the thorn, and the muscles in Killian's jaw worked as he clenched it shut. Snow was mercifully swift; one quick jerk and it was out, but Killian still groaned past his gritted teeth.

"It's not a cure," said Snow regretfully, laying the thorn down on the ground and retrieving some clean cloth from Mulan's satchel. "But it will hold you for a few hours. Emma?"

Emma accepted the cloth from her and pressed it to the wound left by the thorn, securing it in place by buttoning the leather vest over it.

"Thank you, your Highness," said Killian.

Snow gave him a brief smile and a nod before turning her attention to restoring the contents of Mulan's satchel.

There was a mischievous twinkle in Killian's eye as Emma finished her ministrations. "I'm surprised at you, darling," he said softly. "You left my shirt _on_ when you had quite the plausible excuse not to do so."

Emma slipped the last button into place and gave him a scornful stare. "Yup. You're _definitely_ feeling better."

They were able to move a lot faster now, and Killian no longer had to rely on Emma's support. She kept two or three steps ahead of him, but no more. Snow had said after all that the magic adrenaline would last only a few hours.

Luck continued to smile on them. A couple hours or so past noon, Aurora discovered an apple tree growing alongside the path. They stopped for a few minutes to fill a bag as full of apples as it could hold, and they pressed on, each grateful for the apple in their hand.

After a while, Killian fell into step beside Emma.

"You said your lad Henry helped you believe."

Emma blinked. "Sorry?"

"You were telling me about your son earlier. You said Henry helped you believe in the curse?"

"Uh—yeah. Mary Margaret—Snow—my mom, she gave Henry a book that told the stories of everyone here in the Enchanted Forest. Quite a few years before he came looking for me, he realized the truth: that everyone in Storybrooke was under the curse. He figured out that Regina was the Evil Queen, and that Mary Margaret was Snow White."

"Smart lad," said Killian quietly.

Emma smiled absently. "He is. And like I said—brave. When Regina found out that he knew, she sent him to a therapist to try to get the ideas out of his head."

"A therapist?"

He was wearing a perplexed expression, and it took her a second or two to remember that he would have no clue whatsoever as to what a therapist was.

"A therapist is someone who helps you work out problems in your life—personality problems, problems in your past, problems with things that are only in your head. That's what Regina sent Henry to the therapist for." Emma paused for a second as she felt a hitch deep in her chest. "Henry told me that for three or so years, Regina tried to make him feel as if he was crazy for believing that the curse was real."

"That's monstrous."

She turned to him, surprised by the venom in his tone. She caught a flash in his eye, and the clenching of the muscles in his jaw.

"You are definitely right about the lad being brave. To stand true in the face of such adversity? He's not just brave. He's strong of heart." He looked at her and gave her a smile. "_He'd_ make a hell of a pirate."

She laughed a little. "You're probably not wrong, but I'd like to keep that sort of ideas out of his head. But you're right about him being strong of heart. For the longest time…I didn't believe him either. I…I can't imagine what that was like for him."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Killian urged gently. "It's a lot to ask of anyone—to take a leap of faith like that."

"But Henry took that leap. And he was _right_. I should have been willing to take that leap, too."

"Henry is a child, Emma. The innocence that we have as children opens our eyes to truths like this. But as we grow older, we grow blinder as we become hardened by the ways and wiles of the world. Henry could not _help_ but see the truth of the curse's existence, just as you could not help but deny it."

Emma drew up short, mentally. _He's _defending _me. Where's _that_ coming from?_

"Did you pick up that wisdom in Neverland?" she said dryly.

His laugh was hollow, as if he sensed her sarcasm. "You could say so."

They fell silent as they continued to march, and Killian made no effort to resume the conversation.

The sun began to sink toward the horizon, and as the sky began to turn a warm crimson, Aurora gave a cry.

"The sea! I see it! Less than a quarter-league away!"

Snow sighed in relief. "Good. Let's hope Mulan is not far away, now."

Emma turned in time to see Killian stumble and fall to one knee. She noted that he was beginning to look pale again as she hurried to his side and resumed her place with his left arm around her shoulders.

"Guys, I think the magic adrenaline is wearing off."

"Sod it," said Killian weakly. "We press on. The sea is our objective."

Snow looked at Emma. Emma gave her a quick nod, saying wordlessly, _For now_.

They were definitely close to the sea. She could see a wide glimmer up ahead, and the faint smell of salt reached her nose.

Killian was fading faster this time. He grew whiter with every yard of ground they covered, and before long he was gasping for breath.

Just when both the sea and the end of the forest path were in sight, Killian's strength gave out. Emma grabbed both his arms as he fell and lowered him gently to the earth.

"_S-sorry_," he whispered faintly.

_He's apologizing. He's _freaking _apologizing for being too sick to go on?_

"Hey—not your fault," she said firmly.

Snow dropped to one knee beside Emma. "He can't go on, can he?"

Emma felt his forehead and flinched in surprise. Damp, but cold this time instead of burning, and he was shivering a little.

His time was running out.

She shook her head. "No. You go find Mulan. I'll stay with him."

"I'll stay with you," said Aurora.

Nodding, Snow unslung Mulan's satchel from her shoulders and placed it in Emma's hands. "You better take this. Hang in there, Hook."

He didn't answer.

Snow fitted an arrow to her bow and continued up the path. Emma closed Killian's long coat around him as best she could, and Aurora looked through the leather satchel.

"Emma…I do not see anything in here that may be of help to us."

"Nothing? Not even to warm him up? What about that rum he's so fond of?"

"Only Mulan's dwarf wine. I don't think she will take kindly to our appropriating it."

"_I'll_ handle Mulan. Just give me the wine."

Aurora passed the flask to her, and Emma slid an arm behind Killian's head and shoulders, pulling out the wine flask's cork with her teeth.

"Come on, Hook. Take a sip of this. It isn't rum, but it'll warm you up."

He was as white as paper, and he looked drained. But his eyes flickered up toward her face, and his lips parted enough for her to pour down some of the wine before he gasped and coughed. Emma lowered him gently back down, stoppered the flask and handed it back to Aurora.

The sun's edge was dipping down below the horizon. The sea was now as red as the sky. The day was almost out.

Aurora knelt down on Killian's other side and laid a hand on his forehead.

"He is fading fast, Emma. If Mulan and Snow do not return soon, it will be too late."

"No. _No_."

Emma took his hand in both of hers, clenching it hard.

_Not on my watch. _Not _on my _fucking _watch._

"Stay with me…do you hear me, Killian? _Stay with me._"

_Killian? Where the hell did that come from?_ _Fucking _pirate. _Why the hell did he save me? Why did he take that fucking glowing knife for me? He didn't have to. Maybe he could have avoided it, even._

_Why? WHY?_

An idea flashed into Emma's head. A chance…a longshot chance…but it was still a chance…

She gently let go of his hand and moved to slide her arm behind his head and shoulders again.

"Emma…" Aurora said cautiously. "What are you doing?"

"True love's kiss, right? The other cure?"

Aurora's eyes widened. "You…_love _him?"

Emma looked down into Killian's pale face. "I owe him…and I think—I think he might love _me_."

Slowly, gently, she bent her head, bringing her lips down to Killian's.


	4. Chapter 4: Seafire and Seafaring

**How about **_**Into the Deep**_**, huh? **

**The previews released yesterday for **_**Queen of Hearts **_** were something, too. Shout-out to all my fellow shipmates freaking out about Killian smacking Belle:**

**Calm yo'selves, guys. He's Captain-**_**frikkin'**_**-Hook for crying out loud. He's **_**gonna **_**do shit like this once in a while. **_**Relax**_**. He's not even as big a baddie as Rumple or Regina or Cora…he's not **_**beyond**_** redemption.**

**A very wise shipmate who goes by the Tumblr handle **_**we're-only-halfway-there**_** has said that there is one quality that makes any villain redeemable: the ability to love. Regina's got it. She's rebuilding a relationship with Henry. Rumple's got it. He's got quite the pretty little romance brewing (no pun intended) with Belle. And is it there for Killian? Hell, **_**yeah!**_** Captain Swan is **_**happening**_**, people! Let's buckle in and enjoy the ride!**

**Note: I couldn't resist the temptation to bring the Sword of Triton into play here. It seemed like a fitting weapon to give Killian, and I thought, what the hell? Especially since they didn't **_**call**_** it that in **_**Pirates 4**_**. And it looks so much better on him than on Blackbeard. Mmhmm :)**

**And I couldn't resist slipping in the "some are dead, some are alive" line from the **_**Pirates 3**_** song "Hoist the Colors". Yeah…can you tell I've been brushing up on my "pirate"?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Emma, Snow, Killian, Storybrooke, blah, blah, blah. I'm ever so jealous of Eddy and Adam. Bastards. Just kidding—I love those guys.**

She claimed his lips with hers, softly, gently. His stubble brushed against her nose and chin as she kissed him with a mixture of hope and desperation.

_Come on, Killian! Wake up!_

Since when was he Killian? Why was she calling him Killian?

And then she felt it: a flicker of warmth in his skin as she kissed him, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a flutter of movement. She gently broke the kiss and looked down. Her other hand, her right one, rested on the ground as she knelt at Killian's right side, and his own right hand was now lying bare centimeters from hers. She could have sworn it had been lying at his side only moments ago. Had the kiss…?

She slipped her left arm out from behind his head and shoulders, laying him gently back down. "Killian? Kill—Hook?"

On Killian's left side, Aurora laid a light hand on his forehead. "I'm sorry, Emma," she said sadly. "It didn't work."

"No! It _did!_ I _swear_ it did! His hand moved, and he felt warm!"

Aurora hadn't moved her hand from Killian's forehead. "Emma, he is cold as frost. He isn't warm at all."

"But he _was!_"

"Emma!"

Two figures appeared at the end of the forest path, racing at almost break-neck speed, gaining by the second. Snow's voice rang out again.

"Emma!"

Emma stumbled up from Killian's side to meet them as they came running up. "Mary Margaret!"

"We have the seafire," said Mulan, bent nearly double and breathing hard. She plunged her hand into her pocket and brought out what looked like four large blue mint leaves, faintly tinted with sparkling white. She gave them to Snow, who handed Emma two of the leaves.

"We need to shred them…" Snow gasped. "Make a poultice out of them…Aurora—flat stones…two of them…"

With a quick nod, Aurora left her place at Killian's other side and began scouring along the path for the desired objects. Even as she gasped for breath, Snow began shredding the two leaves she held into little pieces in her hands. Emma copied her, taking great care not to drop a single speck.

"Here!"

Aurora came running with two flat white rocks in her hands the size of flattened grapefruits.

"Will these do?"

"Yes, thank you, Aurora," said Snow, taking one from her and motioning for Emma to do the same. Holding the flat stone in one hand, she carefully piled the shredded pieces of seafire leaves on it, and Emma followed suit.

"You'll need this," said Aurora, passing the strap of the water flask over her head and unstoppering it.

"Indeed, thank you," Snow said, accepting it. With the utmost care, she trickled just enough water onto the mulched leaves to moisten them into a paste, and did the same with Emma's.

"One of these goes onto the wound. He has to swallow the other."

"He's still breathing," Aurora said as she bent her ear to Killian's lips and nose. "We don't have much time left."

"Then let's not waste it," said Emma.

She went to Killian's right side again, knelt on the grass, opened the long black coat and began to undo the buttons of the black leather vest. Parting the torn black shirt, she removed the damp and bloodstained scarf, and promptly winced at the sickly green color of the skin around the wound. Carefully she transferred the leaf-paste by pinches from the flat white stone to the wound, gently spreading it out to cover the entire gash. No sooner had she finished than the whole pile of wet, shredded leaf suddenly glowed a bright blue, and then faded just as quickly.

At the same time, Snow cradled Killian's head in her lap, gently parted his lips, and dropped the leaf-poultice into his mouth bit by bit. As soon as she let fall the last pinch, Killian gave a jerk and his eyes opened, shining bright vivid blue—like twin blue stars. He choked without a sound as the paste went down, and he drew a long, shuddering, gasping breath as the glow in his eyes faded, leaving them their normal sea-after-a-storm blue.

Emma slumped in relief. "Thank _God_…"

Aurora smiled brightly past the tear falling down her face, and even Mulan looked somewhat relieved. Smiling warmly down at him, Snow said, "Welcome back—Killian."

Glancing from one face to the next, Killian said weakly, "Any other day, your angel faces might have had me fooled…but if this is heaven, I'm a bloody fairy's uncle." He winced and his good right hand went to the wound. "Smarts too damn much…but still—" he looked around at their faces again, and a faint attempt at a roguish smile curved his lips. "I've been wrong before. You lovelies could be just _hiding_ your wings…"

Emma and Mulan rolled their eyes, and Aurora laughed. Snow smiled, and gently took away the paste from his wound pinch-by-pinch. Underneath, the wound was still gaping and slightly bleeding, but the eerie greenish hue had gone from the skin around it, leaving it a healthy, rosy pink.

Killian squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Not that I'm not grateful to you girls, but I think we should get moving."

"To where?" said Mulan.

His eyes drifted to Emma's face for a moment. "To my ship. We'll be much safer there. I don't know about the rest of you, but out here I feel like an exposed nerve…just waiting for Cora to pop out from behind a tree or something."

"Out on the water we'll have a slight advantage," said Snow, looking around at Emma, Aurora and Mulan.

Aurora appeared a little reassured, but Mulan looked wary, and Emma gave Snow a nod, saying wordlessly, _I trust your judgment._

"Even more than you know," Killian said, gritting his teeth and wincing as he struggled to sit up. Between his one hand and Snow's two, his wounds were patched up again within seconds. "Get me to the water's edge," he said as he and Snow worked. "I'll take care of the rest."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

He gave her a knowing, roguish smile. "At least half the fun of a surprise is the actual element of _surprise_, darling. You'll find out soon enough."

She went back to her former place at his left side as Snow helped him up, drawing his left arm around her shoulders again.

Darkness was falling on the forest behind them as they reached the end of the path. Emma trod the sand carefully, trying not to twist an ankle in the soft, shifting ground, and at the same time attempting to keep Killian from twisting his as well. She stopped just where the wet sand started, and Snow, Mulan and Aurora gathered around them.

Emma looked up at Killian, half-expectantly, half-skeptically. "Okay, then. Have at it, Captain."

He cocked an eyebrow mischievously at her use of his title, and the mischief laced his grin as he reached down with his right hand and drew his sword.

"As you wish, milady."

He took one firm step forward, planting his right boot in the wet sand, and the incoming waves lapped up around it, darkening the leather of the toe. In one smooth, solid motion, he thrust his sword out over the water, straight at the horizon, and the blade glowed a faint blue. The sun had almost completely gone down below the water; only a sliver remained, and just where the golden-tinged water met the darkening sky, a shape appeared, black against the waning sun. It grew larger and larger with every passing moment, and the glowing blue blade shook a little in Killian's hand. Within seconds, they could see a huge ship—some hybrid cross between a galleon and a merchant—plowing through the water, casting out large white-capped waves behind her as she hurtled across the sea towards them. Her sails were black, and the wood that formed her was almost as dark, save for the faded yellow paint that clung to her hull.

Emma's jaw dropped, and she realized it a split second later. She shut it with a snap, but it was too late. Killian had not turned his head, but his wickedly triumphant smile indicated that he had seen her out of the corner of his eye.

The ship slowed down as she neared them, and Killian's voice radiated with pride as he said, "Ladies, may I present to you the most faithful of companions, my staunch _**Jolly Roger**_."

Snow was staring at the sword in his hand with her mouth open. "That's…that's the Sword of Triton, isn't it?"

Killian made her an elegant bow. "It is indeed, your Highness, and I thank you for your notice."

A smaller shape was making its way down over the side of the ship. It hit the water with a splash, and promptly started towards them. A longboat, moving—_sailing_—by itself. It glided smoothly up through the shallow water and slid to a stop before Killian.

He gave the boat's prow a smart tap with the flat of his blade before gently disengaging his left arm from Emma's shoulders and setting one foot in the boat. "Shall we?"

Snow gave Emma a brief nod, and they all took their seats in the longboat. The instant they were all sitting down, the boat slid away from the shore, coasting sturdily through the water up to the side of the huge ship. Killian gave a short jab with the sword's tip in the direction of somewhere up and over the ship's side, and ropes came whistling and snaking down to attach themselves to the prow and stern of the boat, pulling them up the side. The longboat landed gently on the ship's deck, and the first thing Emma noticed was that there was absolutely no one around. Not a single living soul moved on the ship's deck from one end to the other.

"Where's your crew?" said Snow.

"Gone," was Killian's short reply. "Some dead, some alive but taken by the curse. I believe my first mate to be in that Storybrooke of yours." He cast a backward glance beyond the beach to the forest. "If you ladies don't mind, I'll bear the _**Roger**_ out to open water for the night. At the least we'll be out of Cora's reach for a while."

Snow nodded. "By all means."

Killian stabbed the sword up in the air. Ropes wriggled and coiled and twisted this way and that, and the sails billowed and swayed with almost deafening _whooshes_ as they obeyed the commands of their master. He seemed to watch their progress with a critical eye, and once he was satisfied he thrust the point forward towards the horizon. Aurora, Mulan, Snow and Emma stumbled and grabbed onto what was nearest as the _**Roger **_lurched forward under their feet, ploughing toward the vanished sun.

Casting his eyes about the deck once more, Killian gave a short nod as if to himself, and sheathed the sword. "The ship's lodgings are yours, ladies. All the rooms in both bow and stern are yours to choose—" and suddenly the mischievous glint was back in his eyes. "Even mine."

"Forward," said Emma, rolling her eyes.

Mulan nodded a little curtly, and Aurora murmured an assent.

Killian heaved a deep sigh and placed his hand over his heart. "You wound me, fair maidens! Very well, I shall do as you wish."

He showed them to bunks of decent comfort in the _**Roger's**_ large bow section. When he bowed and made his graceful exit, Mulan shoved her sheathed sword under the pillow of a bottom bunk and settled in, and Aurora climbed into the one above, yawning. When Emma made no move to get comfortable, Snow paused on the ladder to the top bunk.

"Something wrong, Emma?"

She shook her head. "Naah. Think I'm gonna go get some air. I'll be back in a bit."

Snow nodded and gave her a smile. "Okay."

Emma had to pinch herself as she stepped out on the deck, with the brisk sea wind rippling her hair out behind her, and the moon already high and bright, sprinkling the sea with ripples of white light.

_I'm on the frikkin' __**Jolly Roger**__. The Peter-frikkin'-Pan __**Jolly Roger**__. Henry would love this._

Her heart gave a painful hiccup. _Henry_.

"Not sleepy yet?"

She turned to see Killian a few steps behind her, his boots barely making any sound on the _**Roger's **_deck. She shook her head. "Not yet."

He came to stand beside her, gazing out over the moonlight-strewn water as it rushed past.

"No matter where I am," he said quietly, "Or what sea I find myself on, I always feel most peaceful right here. On deck, under the moon and the stars. If the _**Roger **_is under my feet, even the night holds no fear for me."

Emma felt his eyes on her, and she stole a quick glance at him. At first, his expression appeared unreadable, but there was something else beneath the surface, struggling to hide? Struggling to come through?

"Swan…Emma…you and your friends risked discovery by Cora to help me. You would have been able to move a lot faster without me weighing you down. You could have gotten here to the sea in a lot less time. You had the ashes. You could have gone home. Why did you save me?"

The hidden emotion flashed in his eyes for a brief second. Vulnerability…respect…and wonder. Emma could have said "You saved _me_", but her voice balked at the words. She saw the hint of mischief mixed in with the wonder and respect and vulnerability in his eyes, and she had no desire to fan that little spark into a blaze.

His own words rose to her lips instead.

"It was the honorable thing to do."

**I'm debating whether or not to continue, guys. I kinda like where this is, and I have a sort of bad record for not finishing some of the fics I start. Depending on how **_**Queen of Hearts**_** goes, well…we'll see.**

**Thank you all for favoriting, following, and reviewing! Your unwavering support and encouragement made this fic possible!**

**~Elizabeth**


	5. Chapter 5: To Storybrooke

**Well, everyone…the story continues. **_**Queen of Hearts **_** was—at the very least—inspiring, and so I return to you with my take on the journey back to Storybrooke.**

**Fun fact: Ever wondered what that giant hole in the deck of a ship is called? Being one obsessed with getting details right, I scoured the web until I found a term that suited me: "Ladder Well". There may be another, more grandiose term, but I am thankful that I found this one…and I thought I'd share it with you.**

**On another note, I couldn't resist giving Killian a line made famous by Capt. Mal Reynolds from the Joss Whedon TV show **_**Firefly**_**: "…If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." Isn't that so totally Killian?**

**Thank you all for favoriting, following and reviewing…I love you all!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Once Upon A Time**_**, Emma, Snow, Killian, Storybrooke…Eddy, Adam, I will forever envy you guys.**

**~Elizabeth**

* * *

Pain. A sword in his chest…burning…twisting agonizingly…

Cold. It numbed his lips, trapping the groans and cries of pain inside him, blotting out everything…dissolving the whole world into dark oblivion…

And then that sudden sweetness…a taste like the freshest mint in his mouth, and for one split second both the pain and cold were gone.

The sweetness vanished as abruptly as it came, and he was drowning in pain and cold again.

But then he was pierced through by a new kind of cold—like a brisk northerly gale, blowing right through him, chasing away the numbness and pain, stimulating and awakening every fiber of his body.

* * *

Killian sat bolt upright in bed, the coverlets falling as he breathed hard and fast. He remembered the sweet, fresh taste, the fleeting touch on his tongue before Snow White had administered the seafire poultice that had saved his life.

_I know that taste…er, rather, _smell_…it was in her hair…_

_Emma. She _kissed _me._

His lips curved in a smile that was half-cocky and half-lecherous. "Why, Emma, you naughty lass…"

"…_true love's kiss…the other cure…_"

The words came to him in a flash of memory, and he realized _why_.

_She was trying to save me…noble, even though it did not work._

Sleep was hopeless, now. He tossed and turned for a little while before reconciling himself to that fact and getting dressed. He wandered out of the stern cabins and sat down on one of the large wooden crates standing in neat piles here and there on deck.

The moon was still shining rather brightly, but it was sinking toward the horizon. Killian thumbed the finely-honed edge of his sword as his eyes were drawn in the direction of the forward cabins.

_It did not work…but she _did_ try to save me…_

_But it _did_ work…_

He remembered the relief of that one swift moment when she must have kissed him, when the agony of pain and the crushing, smothering cold had both fled. He remembered a flash of pure light like molten gold in the ocean of darkness that was drowning him, and he remembered trying to reach out to that light, even as it vanished.

_She must have known…she must have known that it would not work if it was not _true love's_ kiss…so why did she try?_

A thought—a possible answer came to him, and he closed his eyes.

_No, Emma…no, you poor lass…you could do so much better than me, and I…I can't…I can't…_

_Pull yourself together, Jones!_ he commanded himself roughly. _The Crocodile is the prize. The girl is a potentially dangerous distraction, and the matter of her heart should _not_ be this significant an obstacle. It is no concern of yours if you leave her heart broken behind you. She is not the prize._

Sometime after that, sleep must have granted him oblivion at last, because when he woke the sun was just pulling the bottom edge of its circle up above the horizon, and he found a grey wool blanket from the cabins draped over him.

Emma. It _had_ to be Emma, or her mother Snow White. He growled and shoved it aside, pulling himself to his feet.

_I _do not_ wish to break her heart…but I will do so if it threatens my object._

A wafting aroma stopped him in his tracks. He narrowed his eyes and sniffed the air expertly, following the scent to the large ladder-well in the deck that led to the cargo-hold.

He followed it to the kitchen station in the aft part of the hold, and found Mulan and Snow White alternately bent over a large pot bubbling merrily over a crackling fire, and arguing over its contents. Emma was cautiously poking wedges of wood into the fire underneath the dangling pot, and Aurora was scurrying here and there, gathering up this and that as ordered by the two women attending the pot.

"What do we have here?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Breakfast," said Snow White cheerfully.

"Stew," Mulan echoed promptly and dryly. "Your stores did not afford enough to make much else."

"I have been deprived of the _**Roger's**_ company to an extent that prevented me from remedying that problem. Hmm…let us see if the glorious aroma you lovelies have conjured up matches the actual article."

He thumbed the pommel of the sheathed Sword of Triton as it hung from his belt, and a coil of rope hanging on one wall unwound itself, slithered across a surface for cutting and chopping, caught up a clay bowl sitting near, scooped it across the top of the simmering pot and deposited it in his hand. Cocking an eyebrow roguishly at Aurora and Emma's dropped jaws, he lifted the bowl to his lips, tilted it delicately, and took a measured sip.

He closed his eyes and ran his tongue over his lips seductively. "My compliments, ladies…your skills in the culinary arts border on—miraculous. Perhaps you would consent to join me in the captain's private dining room, and discuss plans over this marvelous breakfast of yours?"

Another brush over the sword's pommel set several of the kitchen cupboard doors to swinging, revealing modest silver bowls, plates, goblets, and the like. Killian led the way to the dining room, and retreated to his own quarters to retrieve a bottle of Fairy Crimson and spiced rum from his carefully-guarded locker.

"Only the finest for visiting princesses," he said with an elegant bow, and began to fill four goblets with Fairy Crimson.

Snow White's eyes glittered as she eyed the bottle. "Fairy Crimson…Captain Jones, how generous of you. I haven't had a glass of Fairy Crimson in years—twenty-eight, to be precise."

"Time to change that, Majesty," Killian said with a roguish smile, offering her a filled silver goblet.

The warrior maid Mulan suddenly narrowed her eyes as Snow White took the goblet, and seized her wrist before she could take a sip. "Wait, your Highness—"

She tugged off one of her leather gloves and removed from one finger a ring with a green stone as large as a robin's egg, dropping it into the wine goblet.

"Mulan—" Snow White began, disapprovingly.

Mulan fished the ring out with a silver fork, and examined it keenly. The stone remained green, and she nodded, releasing Snow White's wrist. "Had to be sure, your Highness. No offense, Captain."

Killian fingered the tip of his hook. "Poison isn't my style, love. If I wanted to kill you, wouldn't I have done it while you were sleeping?" His gaze turned hard as he fixed it on Mulan. "If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." With that, he popped the cork on the rum bottle with his hook and proceeded to fill his own goblet.

The silence bordered on oppressive as Snow White turned her attention to her goblet, Aurora and Emma quietly sipped spoonfuls from their bowls of stew, and Mulan slowly replaced her glove on her hand.

Although it was barely audible, Killian heard Emma whisper as if to herself, "_Awkward…_"

He could not help smiling. "So," he said, picking up his goblet and breaking the silence, "We have the compass, and we have the wardrobe ashes. What is the plan?"

"Supposedly," said Snow White, "The wardrobe was drained of its magic when it was used to send Emma through to Storybrooke the first time. However, there is a place here in the Enchanted Forest called Lake Nostos, the waters of which have the ability to restore that which has been lost. Although the lake dried up twenty-eight years ago, I believe that there may yet be some vestiges of water left, in the soil. I expect we shall only have to dig a little ways before we find it. Once the ashes have been revived with the water, they should be able to create a portal that will take us to Storybrooke."

"Lake Nostos?" said Killian. "I believe I have heard of it."

Standing, he drew his sword and pointed it in a north-westerly direction. The wood of the ship creaked and the bowls and goblets on the table slid as the ship changed direction. "We should be in the harbour half-a-mile from the lake within the hour, milady," he said, sheathing the sword and addressing Snow White.

She nodded. "Very well. But we should be prepared for the possibility that we may get there to find Cora waiting for us. She is aware of the lake's existence, and she will probably predict that we will go there to restore the wardrobe ashes."

"Leave Cora to me," said Mulan. "My sword deflects all magic."

The _**Roger**_ came to rest in the desired harbour in a little under an hour, and when they were ashore, Killian untied a small, clear glass bottle from his belt, balanced it horizontally with his hook, and pointed his sword at the _**Roger**_. Blue smoke began to swirl up from water around the _**Roger's**_ hull, circling it from stem to stern and waterline to crow's nest until it was no longer visible. Then the blue smoke began to streak toward the bottle balanced on Killian's hook, and when it settled, the _**Jolly Roger **_had vanished and there was a miniature version floating on a little bit of water at the bottle's bottom.

Emma stared at the tiny ship as Killian stoppered the bottle with its cork. "Your ship—is in a _bottle_. How is your ship in a bottle?"

"A particular trick of the Sword of Triton that I'm especially fond of. And the bottle was spelled by a witch. It's unbreakable."

"Shouldn't we have brought shovels, Snow?" said Aurora.

Snow White opened her mouth to reply, but Killian answered first.

"No need. Not while I've got this." And he fingered the pommel of his sword fondly.

A few minutes of walking brought them in sight of the dry lake bed, with its eerie assortment of driftwood, skeletons, rusted weapons, and dead seaweed. Killian unsheathed the Sword of Triton, grasping the handle firmly. Like the needle of a compass, the sword pulled his arm in the direction of the lake bed's center, and promptly began to glow blue.

"This way!" he called.

He strode to the dead center of the lake bed, and stabbed the sword into the sand. The blade glowed bright ocean blue, and little by little, water began to pool where the sword met the ground.

"Hurry, Majesty!"

Snow White knelt in the sand beside him, uncapped the glass phial containing the wardrobe ashes, scooped up some of the pooling water in her hand, and let it trickle down to the faintly glinting dust. Immediately the ashes glowed a vivid purple, and Snow White gave a cry of triumph.

"It worked! This is it! _It worked!_"

"Well done, Snow."

Aurora crumpled to the ground, senseless, felled by a flying blast of purple magic, and Cora materialized in front of Killian, smiling charmingly. He fell to his knees in his turn, as luminous purple ropes bound themselves around him, imprisoning his arms at his sides, and tightening mercilessly around his chest.

"If you're going to kill me, Cora," he gasped, "_Kill me_."

"I'm not going to kill you yet, my dear Captain," she cooed, running one flawlessly-groomed fingernail along his cheek. "In my book, betrayal merits a punishment far more severe."

"_Cora!_" came Mulan's shout.

Cora deftly sidestepped an arrow fired by Snow White, and flung a fireball at Emma. Mulan reached her at the last second, and the fireball fell away before the enchanted blade. At that moment, Cora seized the opportunity to immobilize Snow White in a swirl of magic, and wrenched the glass phial of glowing wardrobe ashes from her hand.

"Snow!"

"Mary Margaret!"

"Thank you, Snow," said Cora, beaming at her.

"Why?" gasped Snow White. "Why do you want to go to Storybrooke?"

"Because my daughter _needs_ me. And now I'm going to give her the one thing she's always wanted: your heart. Goodbye, Snow."

She raised her hand, but at the very last second a flying golden blur barreled into Snow White, knocking her aside and dissolving the immobilization enchantment, and Cora's hand buried itself in Emma's chest.

"_Emma!_" screamed Snow White.

"_No!_" Killian shouted, struggling vainly against his magical bonds. They began to tighten as he fought them, and the wound in his chest suddenly burned afresh, tearing a scream from his lips and forcing him to stop his struggles.

"Oh, you foolish girl!" cried Cora. "Don't you know? Love is _weakness_."

Memories began to mesh with the present, flashing before Killian's eyes. Milah's glowing heart emerging from her chest in the Dark One's hand shot across his vision, and alternated with the sight of Cora's hand in Emma's chest.

_No…not again…_

Emma jerked as Cora tried to pull her heart free, jerked again, and again. There was no sign of the glowing heart, but Cora's hand was still in her chest. The thought—the realization was like the blast of a northerly gale through Killian's mind: _Cora could not take Emma's heart_.

Emma herself seemed to realize the magnitude of that. She straightened up, a light glowing in her eyes, and she said, "No. It's _strength_."

In that moment, a pulse of pure golden light shot outward from Emma. Cora was blown backward by the sheer strength of it, and she disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.

The magical ropes binding Killian vanished, and he collapsed to the sand, choking and gasping. He reached Emma and Snow White just as Mulan and a slightly groggy Aurora did.

Snow White had her hand over Emma's chest, as if trying to make sure her daughter's heart still beat within.

"What was that?" Emma gasped.

Taking her daughter's face in both hands, Snow White said, beaming, "_That—_is an _excellent_ topic for discussion. When we get home."

"Are you all right?" said Killian.

Emma looked at him as if she was in a slight daze, and she gave a nod as her own hand went to her chest.

His fingers brushed lightly over hers as she pressed them to her chest. "Are you sure?"

"I—I think so…"

Mulan grasped Snow White's shoulder warmly. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Snow White said, glancing from her to Aurora. "Good luck to both of you."

Aurora bent, picked something up out of the sand, and handed Snow White the glass phial of wardrobe ashes. "You'll need these."

"Indeed." Her smile was kind and warm as she said, "I hope you find him." She took Emma's hand and looked at Killian. "Coming, Captain?"

Together, Snow White, Emma, and Killian went to the center of the lake bed, where his sword still stood in the small pool of water. He withdrew it and sheathed it, and Snow White held out the phial of glowing ashes to him.

"Would you like to do the honors?"

He smiled at her, and gave her a graceful bow. "It will be my pleasure, Majesty."

Uncapping the glass bottle, he scattered the glowing contents over the little pool of Lake Nostos water, and the little pool began to swirl and expand into a glowing whirlpool as large as he remembered Queen Regina's hat portal had been.

They all took a few steps back, and Emma pulled out the compass.

Standing on Emma's right, Snow White clasped her hand over Emma's and the compass, and on Emma's left side, Killian closed his own hand over both of theirs.

With a smile that radiated pure joy at going home, over the roar of the swirling water Snow White cried, "Ready?"

Both Emma and Killian nodded, and all three jumped into the portal together.


End file.
